CNN) -- A federal judge Wednesday sentenced five former New Orleans police officers to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for the shootings of unarmed civilians in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, prosecutors said.

The ex-officers were convicted in August on a combined 25 counts of civil rights violations in the shootings, which occurred on the Danziger Bridge on September 4, 2005, six days after much of New Orleans went underwater when the powerful hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt handed the stiffest sentence to former Officer Robert Faulcon, who was handed a 65-year term for his involvement in shooting two of the victims. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gecivius got 40 years for their roles in the incident, while Robert Villavaso was sentenced to 38 years.

The lightest term went to former detective Arthur Kaufman, who was sentenced to six years for attempting to cover up what the officers had done, according to the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans.

Prosecutors argued the officers opened fire on an unarmed family, killing 17-year-old James Brissette and wounding four others. Minutes later, Faulcon shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man described by Justice Department officials as having severe mental disabilities and who was trying to flee the scene when he was shot, according to the Justice Department.

No race was not a part of this story. A couple of the police involved were black. It is just a monument to how individuals with a number of maladaptive personal traits react when they are also part of a dysfunctional organization. The NOPD collapsed after Katrina as did the local and state government. The NOPD members who remained on duty complained that ‘no one understood how bad they had it’. I am sorry this wasn't the Halifax Explosion or 9-11. There were a lot of dead people around. So, that is what police and emergency services are supposed to be trained to deal with. Not only were no attempts made to contain looters but many of the NOPD (as in this case) seem to have collapsed psychologically and acted as though they were in a state of shock. Not unusual for SE Louisiana. People here constantly react poorly when faced by unexpected challenges or when the predictable consequences of their bad choices bite them. This is what hundreds of years of failed paternalistic schemes of government produces.

It is just a monument to how individuals with a number of maladaptive personal traits react when they are also part of a dysfunctional organization.

True, but I would say that applies to all levels of government -- local, state, and federal. IMO the correct hermeneutic here to explain their actions is a reflexive, panicked power grab. Very much what we saw after 9/11. In all cases in which government in a crisis is shown to be inattentive and helpless, the recovery strategy seems to be to flex muscles and bellow about authority.

Yes, I spent literally decades working for the armed services and the period after 9-11 was the weirdest and most unpleasant. Those at the top really do become so involved in their pyramid games that they lose all critical distance. The mid level types where I was had expected some big thing from OBL Organization all summer. We just expected it to be overseas, maybe a big attack on a US base in Japan or Germany. But we were not psychologically stunned the way the people with stars on their shoulders were. The reaction from people at the top was an angry lashing out in all directions and mostly at their own subordinates and employees. Some of this was when all the holes and voids in the defense infrastructure that had been created by the ‘peace dividend’ quickly emerging. The elephants had all signed off on a lot of obvious nonsense in the 90’s and now there was real fear GWB would conduct an accounting of why such things as chemical weapons dumps being classified as industrial waste sites had happened. There is nothing worse than serving angry careerists fearful of their perks and positions.

I vividly remember a conversation with our new 0-6 chief as to where ‘his’ map and publications account was after the truly awful man who was the G-3 had had a tantrum about not instantly having maps of Astan. I pointed out to him that ‘his’ shop had no pubs account as the organization policy for purposes of economy was only one such account would exist and it would be controlled by admin services. Unfortunately the woman in charge of that account and the TS clearance officer was floridly bi-polar and had a big ego thing about restricting all pubs orders only to those absolutely mandated by regulation or statue so there were no maps and we could order none. I was treated to a major explosion of command rage which boiled down to ‘how dare you tell me I can't get anything I want and this situation is your fault you stupid lazy civilian’. That was the tenor of life for months as we labored to support the ramp up for Astan and then Iraq. We had done the drill so often during the 90’s starting with Panama in89 we could do it in our sleep but our leaders were shaken, fearful, angry and without a template and they took it out on the people they could control. Loyal US citizens. I often wondered if the same sour angry atmosphere prevailed after Pearl Harbor.

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